Painter wielded his brush as weapon against repression in former U.S.S.R.
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

HIDDEN ART SEES LIGHT OF DAY-Thousand Oaks resident Val Klever now exhibits his paintings without fear of reprisal. His artwork will be displayed at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

Val Klever was born with paint, not blood, running through his veins.

At least that's how his daughter Karina Klever describes the passion that led her father to risk his life painting politically forbidden images on canvas when he lived in the former Soviet Union.

Klever is an artist who was trapped in a world that didn't allow him to express himself. His father, a Soviet general and test pilot, provided his son the opportunity to have a military career.

Instead, Klever's weapon of choice was a paintbrush, and with it he began to battle the society that sought to suppress his artistic drive and imagination.

The result was hundreds of 3by-5-foot abstract paintings with strokes of vibrant colors and symbols that represent the life of pain, torture and fear of death that Klever eventually left behind.

Thirty-seven of these abstract and political paintings and six graphic pictures will be displayed on the walls of the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza during a show that will run from Oct. 4 through Jan. 8.

COMING TO THE CIVIC ARTS PLAZA-Vibrant abstracts by artist Val Klever, right, once part of the Soviet Union's Non-Conformist movement, will soon be displayed in Thousand Oaks.

Awareness of what Klever endured to create these works should serve as an inspiration to all of those who view his show. Some of the artists he worked with were executed because of their creations. Many of Klever's paintings to be displayed were never shown in the Soviet Union: if they had been, her father, too, would have been executed, Karina said.

The artist hid his unframed canvases inside walls, behind shelving in his home and in the attics of trusted friends, he said.

Once, when Karina was 6 years old, she was arrested by the KGB and interrogated to find out what her father was doing, she recalled.

"After that we did not let Karina go out by herself, because we did not know what might happen," Klever said.

Val Klever

His father's status and the fact that he hid his political work saved his life, Karina said. Still, the KGB followed his every move.

"In the Soviet Union you are not allowed to have identity, talent, intelligence or money and anyone who has these things becomes a target," Karina said.

Klever was forced to join the military for two years. After that, he went to St. Petersburg, (then called Leningrad), where he enrolled in universities and studied art. He participated in a group of socially and politically conscious painters know as the Non-Conformists. At the time only government-approved art was permitted to be shown.

In 1974 the Non-Conformists were finally able to solicit enough support from followers and media to have several exhibits that were hugely successful, said Karina.

"People lined up for 10 long city blocks. Only 30 people were allowed in the exhibit hall for 30 minutes at a time to view the artwork. Many of those wanting to view the exhibition waited in line for days at a time," Karina said.

Her father couldn't walk down the street without every other person stopping him and congratulating him, she said.

The popularity of the shows worked against the artists: The Soviet Union perceived them as threatening and Klever was jailed for a week. Other exhibitors were less fortunate: some were executed, others jailed for life, he said.

All this, Karina said, was because their art stimulated imaginations and set the artists above others by showing their talent. Klever's politically defiant works were still hidden in walls when he and family fled the country in 1978.

When the Iron Curtain fell in 1986 and perestroika began,

Klever and his wife, Lina, returned to Russia to retrieve many of the hidden artworks using underground channels and middleof-the-night trucks, Karina recalled. Some of those works have been displayed in Vienna, Paris, New York and Los Angeles and will soon be on display at the Civic Arts Plaza, she said.

When Klever was young, he heard about America, a place where he could paint whatever he wanted. Such a place seemed like a dream, he said. Now that he lives here, his paintings have changed. Sometimes he focuses on stained glass because he's inspired by light going through his work.

"Now I paint about light and life," he said.